Friday 10 June 2016

Emmanuel Chew's Independent Learning Log

Learning Log 1
1.30pm- 2pm
8.6.2016

Source:

What I did:
I went to BBC to find out a little more about robots of the future. I had some questions:
  • Can a machine ever think like a human?
  • If so, when will it happen?
  • If so, how will it work?

What I learned:
-Machines could never think like humans.
-A machine perhaps sophisticated enough could actually simulate a human but in actual fact it is just following commands

Summary:
 A machine could never properly think by itself but only follow commands given by the programmer, but a machine could still simulate a human if the programme allows it to be. In the video, an experiment is conducted to explain it. A person who cannot speak in Chinese sits in a room and gets a letter written in Chinese. He has a book that tells him exactly what to write when a sentence of Chinese characters matches the ones in the book. Machines can follow their programming on what to do or say when someone does something.

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Learning Log 2
10am-10.30am
9.6.2016

Source:

What I did:
I went to BBC again to find out more about robots. I a question: Why would humans ‘feel’ for a robot? So I read the article and better understood why things are so.

What I learnt:
We actually feel sorry for robots because they feel to us like one of us. Like we would feel bad if we hurt another human, because they have human-like features, it would make us feel bad if we hurt it.

Summary:
In the experiments, the people were given some time to ‘bond’ with the robots then they were tasked to torture or destroy the robots- the people refused to lift a finger onto the robots. Then, they were told that they could save their own robot by destroying someone else’s, they still refused to do anything. 

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Learning Log 3
1.40pm- 2.10pm
9.6.2016

Source:

What I did:
I was scrolling through the National Geographic website and this article caught my eye Surprising History of Glowing Fish. So I read on and learnt more about the history of glowing fish.

What I learnt:
-1,500 fish species are bioluminescent(able to make their own light)
-Some of them generate light through chemical reactions of their own cells while others form partnerships with luminous bacteria.
-Some sharks are actually bioluminescent

Summary:
There are many species of fish that are actually bioluminescent. Some ways that the fish have evolved to make their own light is through chemical reactions of their own cells. Another way is forming partnerships with luminous bacteria, forming organs that house these bacteria. The 250 or so species of the lanternfish account for around 65 percent of the fish in the deep sea by weight. 

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Learning Log 4
11.45am-12.30pm
10.6.2016

Source:

What I did:
I was scrolling through the National Geographic website again and this article caught my eye ‘New Fossils Hint 'Hobbit' Humans Are Older Than Thought’. I read on and learnt more about the Homo Erectus.

What I learnt:
-One theory says that the H. floresiensis is a dwarfed form of Homo erectus.
-The Homo erectus was an ancient human relative that lived in East Asia and parts of Africa until about 143,000 years ago.
-Archaeologists found the first hobbit fossils while excavating Liang Bua cave in 2003.

Summary:
This article talks about some findings that belongs to the ancestors of the Homo Floresiensis. Since the Homo Floresiensis was discovered, there have been two prevailing theories about it. One that Homo Floresiensis is a dwarfed form of Homo Erectus. The new findings suggest that Homo floresiensis is indeed a dwarfed form of Homo erectus from Java.

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Learning Log 5
1pm-1.30pm
10.6.2016

Source: 
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160321-climate-change-petm-global-warming-carbon-emission-rate/
What I did:
I wanted to find out more about the climate change so I went to the National Geographic website to find out more. I started reading this article: Earth Hasn’t Heated Up This Fast Since the Dinosaurs’ End. This article was very educational and has convinced me that climate change is no laughing matter.
What I learnt:
-Carbon had been pouring into earth atmosphere faster than any time in the past 66 million years. 
-PETM is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
-The PETM transition, 55.8 million years ago, caused massive changes in where plants and animals lived, rapid evolution of some species, and extinction of others.  
- Fossil fuel burning and other human activity today releases 10 gigatons of carbon annually.  
Summary:

This article speaks about earth’s PETM and the dangerous times that we are in currently thanks to us humans for being ignorant about the climate for our own profit. The carbon emissions in the earth are now 10 times greater than before, compared to the past 66million years. We are at risk of causing even worse climate changes, harsher weather etcetera. In conclusion, we must do our part to protect the environment and slow down climate change.

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